LANARKSHIRE-BASED manufacturer Glenmuir, began its association with the Ryder Cup in 1987 and prepares for another successful event as profits continue to rise.

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Paul Lawrie helped Europe retain the Ryder Cup in 2012

GOLF apparel manufacturer Glenmuir's association with the Ryder Cup may have begun as a favour a quarter of a century ago, but the association has proven lucrative ever since.

Glenmuir, which has been in the textiles trade since 1891, has been making clothing for golfers since 1932, but its association with the Ryder Cup began in 1987 when it was asked as a favour to design and make the uniform for the European team.

Since then the company has steadily managed to deliver profits of around five per cent on average turnover of £11m a year.

The Lanarkshire-based company, which employs around 100 people, enjoys an average 10 per cent sales lift in each year it has been associated with the event, despite none of its branding appearing on the European team's clothing.

As Glenmuir's chief executive, Colin Mee, explains, the licensing and merchandising contracts alone put Glenmuir head to head with the retail giants in golfing apparel. He says: “We are a relatively small, private company competing in a very crowded market against multinational brands and we do reasonably well in the circumstances.

“We don't get involved in sponsorship but we have maintained relationships with a few of the Ryder Cup captains over the years with the likes of Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam. But what we do is tie our advertising and promotion spend to golfing events because players do come and go but the event itself tends to be around for a long time.

“We don't put our branding on the clothing, but we can promote our association with the competition and we do get a lot of spin-off business as a result as well as a licence to create clothing and official merchandise under license.

“That said, we feel the Scottish people are really going to get behind this event, and you can feel that excitement building already. I think commercially it will be our best yet because this is the first time in a long time the Ryder Cup is being played in Scotland.”

As the Glenmuir story illustrates, association with an event which boasts a television audience in the hundreds of millions each day can prove lucrative. Ryder Cup Europe estimates the three-day event attracts a global television audience in the region of 500 million for each of the three days of competition. As sporting events go, The Ryder Cup ranks in stature behind only the Olympics and the football World Cup.

Edinburgh-based insurance giant Standard Life, which recently reported a roar back to significant profitability, certainly sees the potential in attaching its name to an event with an audience of that size.

Standard Life is the first company to ever sign a sponsorship agreement across two Ryder Cup events, and although naturally coy in disclosing what that association is costing, it’s undoubtedly a sizeable investment.

In 2014, Scotland ‘opens its doors to the world’ in a year-long series of events to mark the Year of Homecoming, anchored by The Ryder Cup and The Commonwealth Games. VisitScotland estimates the 2014 Year of Homecoming could be worth as much as £1.5bn to the Scottish economy, and few would argue that attracting two globally recognised sporting events presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Scottish business.

Scotland's tourism body is certainly on the front foot in ensuring businesses make the most of the historic line-up of major events in 2014 with the launch of Tourism Intelligence Scotland (TIS), an initiative backed by VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Island Enterprise.

VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay believes 2014 represents Scotland's “best opportunity for tourism in decades”. He says: “No matter where businesses are in Scotland, there will be things happening near them all year round. And whether they are world-class ventures or local events, a significant proportion of the visitor spend ends up in the pockets of tourism businesses.

“All of these events and festivals present an opportunity to raise the profile of Scotland and extend our world famous welcome. It’s up to tourism businesses to make the most of what’s on locally and work together to use this to encourage more visitors to the area and give them good reason to stay longer and to come back for more.”

Ryder Cup Europe says an economic impact study it conducted at the conclusion of the last UK event hosted at Celtic Manor in Wales in 2010 found it had added £82m to the local economy, and that figure was skewed – and downwards – on account of so many visitors having stayed in English hotels, given Celtic Manor is located so close to the English border.

Gleneagles will play host to the 2014 Ryder Cup

The 2014 Ryder Cup event is projected to directly add around £100m to the Scottish economy.

Event Scotland's Ryder Cup project director, Robbie Clyde, has spent years working behind the scenes to bring major events like the Ryder Cup to Scotland. He says: “The Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup really are two of the biggest events we could realistically hope to host in Scotland, and to have both events in the same year is a fantastic opportunity for Scotland and for Scottish businesses.

“The Ryder Cup undoubtedly provides us with a shop window open to the world to showcase Scotland, and we are working with organisations across Scotland to make sure business is making the most of the opportunity the Ryder Cup offers.

“We set out five years ago to ensure we attracted at least one major golf tournament to Scotland each year and we have managed to do that right up to 2021. What that means is, people from all over the world will be watching the Ryder Cup, and there will be a lot of those people thinking they want to visit Scotland because it is seen as the spiritual home of golf. So if they can't make it to Scotland for the Ryder Cup they can think about coming over for the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews or the 2016 Open at Troon.

“But I think its important to point out, its not just the procurement opportunities up for grabs for the Ryder Cup, there are many ways in which business can capitalise, either through sponsorship in some way or even in corporate hospitality and entertaining clients.

“There is so much business done at events like the Ryder Cup, it’s a great showcase and we are trying to make Scottish businesses aware of the wider range of opportunities on offer from events of this magnitude and provide support to give them the best chance to capitalise on those opportunities.”

However, romantic notions the event is returning to its spiritual home for it fortieth meeting ends there.

A Host Nation Agreement signed on the first tee of the PGA Centenary Course at The Gleneagles Hotel by Scotland’s minister for public health and sport, Shona Robison, and Ryder Cup match director, Edward Kitson, in March 2011, laid out the cost to the public in bringing the competition back to Scotland.

The Scottish Government, and by extension the people of Scotland, has agreed to pay Ryder Cup Europe around £10m to bring the 2014 event to Scotland as part its official terms, commitments and conditions agreement with Ryder Cup Europe.

This is part of a wider £20m package agreed by the Scottish Government to lure some of the biggest competitions in the golf calendar here, including the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews.

However, the investment outlay is expected not only to generate a ten-fold economic return in 2014, but economic benefit for many years to come as a result of Event Scotland having secured major golfing events with the PGA for Scotland for many years to come.

Due to the size and scale of the preparations required to put on an event like the Ryder Cup, the organisers, Ryder Cup Europe, are piloting a first-of-its-kind procurement initiative with the help of the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise to offer private contracts through a public sector portal.

The portal, which is being hosted on the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) website, will offer contract opportunities for things like security, transport, merchandising, catering and food supplies, waste management, barriers, fencing, telecoms and portable offices.

The Ryder Cup was last played on Scottish soil at Muirfield in 1973, when the competition was still between the Americans and a team from the UK and Ireland, which the US won 19 to 13.